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The supermarkets are having their Easter veg wars, so I've been stocking up. I have now got multiple boxes of potatoes layered with cardboard and stored in a cool dark place. Plus big paper bags of carrots, parsnips and onions. Well, I say paper bags, they're actually the packaging Amazon uses now, which is perfect for what I want. I also got three huge heads of broccoli yesterday morning and have three massive turnips.

I made vegetable soup in the slow cooker yesterday, and I intend to make a big pan of mashed potato, and then the same again of mashed carrots and turnip, freezing both batches after. Honestly, at 4p a bag in some shops, 15p in others, it would be silly not to buy.

It's actually been a nice thrifty shopping time lately, as at Company they tend to give things away free at the end of the month. So, when we went on Tuesday they were giving away cans of energy drinks, bread, baby food and cartons of chicken soup. We got a loaf and some soup, but got as many of the energy drinks as possible as James always has one going to work. Not good for him he knows, but it's a boost to the day he likes, so stocking up has saved us a lot of money.

We went to see The Magic Faraway Tree at the Odeon, and oh what a lovely film. I was surprised when we were coming out and James said he hadn't read the book, as I thought it was a book most people from the UK of a certain age had read, but it seems not.

Class on Wednesday, ( cut for details )

From class we headed off to the craft shop so James could swap out some of his stock. That didn't take long, but add on a gossip with the shop owner and a TikTok issue that led to chilling on a bench while James rerecorded stuff it was late afternoon before I got home.

Yesterday James taught his pyrography class again, and it seems it went well, while I caught up on some surveys.

Today we've been for a drive to Barnard Castle, bitter sweet in many ways as usually my MiL would have been with us as it was one of her favourite places to visit. We'd been looking forward to seeing the lambs on the moors, but there was none there. So, I suspect we were a bit early for that. Then we'd usually pick up a tray of eggs at the honesty farm stall. Got there, and their chickens have bird flu, so no eggs for sale. Got to Barney itself and despite being quite busy, found a parking spot and had a delicious dinner, before going to the bakery I like for some sour dough bread, only to find it was sold out. But, I bought a white loaf instead -- all they had left tbh- and will have some of that with vegetable soup later. Oh, and this rainbow followed us all across the moors. ( behind here )

(no subject)

I got excellent mail from

dine, thank you!

They cancelled Starfleet Academy, which is typical considering how much I enjoyed the show. I know we still have the second season to watch, but I wanted more.

The Pitt is finally being shown here, and one morning James saw his first episode, and said he wanted to see episode two as soon as one was finished. And I was like, I know that feeling! It was strange seeing these early episodes again, knowing what was going to come for each character. Strange but good, I mean, it's not like a rewatch is a bad thing.

Let's see, since I last posted one day I Bodhisat from after school to about eight so the mams could go on a date. Bodhi is really into KPop Demon Hunters right now, and I lost aunty points for being unable to belt out the songs while she pretended to take out some demons. I was also told I was terrible at concentrating and asked why I walked strangely. Then, when I told her it was because I have a poorly knee, she wanted to know every detail of how that happened, and you and me both, Bodes.

Wednesday it was class, there was only me and three older guys who turned up, so it was a focussed class. ( cut for exercise stuff )

We went to see Project Hail Mary at the cinema. I thought it was great, but for those who like to play along with the game, James fell asleep watching it.

Though he gets a pass as he had a busy end of the week, volunteering to go teach pyrography to a group one afternoon, which he was nervous about as it's not something he'd done before. Then the next day, had to go for a health screening that included the longest attempt to take blood yet. Seriously, nearly an hour, and two doctors later I was ready to call it on his behalf when finally, the younger doctor finally managed to find a vein.

He's at work today, then off from tomorrow starting the last week of his use it or lose it annual leave. As of now our only concrete plans are going to the Odeon to the The Magic Faraway Tree, which I'm looking forward to so much, and James to do his second pyrography class. But, I'm sure the remaining days will soon be filled.

Oh, and Murphy caught a mouse yesterday. I was having a sleep-in and woke up to James at the bottom of the bed holding a mouse. Turned out Murphy had caught it downstairs, then when James went to see what all the commotion was, ran upstairs. I'm just glad James did follow and get the mouse from him, as I would have hated to wake to it actually on the bed with me.

Today is exercise only class again, but until then, this house isn't going to tidy itself. I may even put the first wash of the year on the line as it looks sunny and breezy out there.

that the world would never forget

I—I—Lance Bass has written books. For children. Whimsical children's books. Books! Lance! Lance Bass!

I am (as you can tell) absurdly happy about this.

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It was a full week last week.

James had to take the rest of his annual leave or lose it, so only worked two days last week. And will only work two this week and then one next week, so score for him.

Which meant we got to get a lot done. One day we finally renewed our Beamish annual ticket and had our first visit there this year. We walked half the site, and had a really nice day in the spring sunshine. James did a post to his TikTok account if you want to see some of the site, that's here.

That same day we also picked up one of Re.F.Use's waste not fruit and vegetable boxes, and came home with a big crate of fresh food. I was the first person picking -- they leave the crates in a covered area, and you just pull up and pick up the one you want, so I went for the one that had a punnet of blueberries on top. Of course there were the usual lemons and grapefruit I never know what to do with, but mostly it was an excellent selection. The extra this time was each crate had a bunch of tulips on top and very pretty they were too.

Another day we went to the cinema to see Mother's Pride, and I enjoyed it lots.

On the not so enjoyable side, I came down with a horrible head cold, and started to declutter the garage which was a dirty and challenging job. But, a load of stuff went to the tip yesterday so we've made a start.

Saturday was another craft fair, and we actually made more than we spent this time, so things are going in the right direction. But, I must admit, after four Saturdays in a row, I'm glad we're having a break from craft fairs this weekend coming.

Rosie was also back, so I went to two classes. The weekend before Monday's class she sent a group message asking people not to ask her why she'd been off as it was complicated. Which, fair enough, I would have hoped no one would ask anyway, but she obviously needed that extra reassurance. Class went well, a bit awkward at times as she seemed a bit reluctant to chat as much as she used to. No doubt worried what people would say, but it was only a small group of people who've been with her for a very long time, so by the end things seemed back to normal.

Wednesday was the talk/exercise class plus we had a one to one after class, so I'll cut as I'm going to talk about weight stuff. ( behind here )

Class should have been this morning but wasn't on, though Rosie did stress this was a planned thing and everything will be back to normal from Wednesday. So I've been to the gym first thing, along with half the population of my town it seemed.